Egypt (1983: Doomsday)
Egypt has only recently resurfaced as a coherent nation in the last couple of decades after collapsing in the late 1980s. Some of this can be attributed to the intervention of Greece, however the Egyptians are stalwartly independent and assert their return was only hastened by Greek kindness. History Egypt has always had a varied history - it was one of the first great civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea (before both the Greeks and Romans) before having its civilization invaded by both the Greeks (under Alexander) and the Romans (under Caesar and later Octavian) after which its culture began to slowly stagnate, before being entirely overwritten after the Muslim conquest. In more recent years the country was declared an Arab Republic, under first General Muhammad Naguib and then Muhammad Anwar El Sadat until his assassination in 1981. In January 1982 Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak, commonly called Hosni Mubarak, took control of the Republic and at Doomsday he was working in his office in Cairo. Doomsday Due to Egypt not being a member of NATO or the Warsaw Pact and the fact that in 1983 their relations with both the United States and the United Kingdom were not good, it was not a target for any Soviet nuclear weapon, and was also classed as a low grade target by both the United States and the United Kingdom, so it received no impacts from those nations as well. Many of the nations bordering Egypt and in the surrounding area suffered after Doomsday, both from nuclear destruction and the ensuing chaos. *Israel to the east suffered several detonations, its government survived due to the weapon aimed at Jerusalem beng shot down and the fallout blew eastwards into the uninhabited desert. *The Kingdom of Jordan also was hit by several detonations, but its government also survived although it lost approximately 50% of its population. *Shortly after DD, even though they had no impacts, Sudan to the south of Egypt collapsed into civil war, as did Libya and Algeria to the west. Post-Doomsday One of the first main problems after Doomsday was the huge numbers of tourists trapped in Egypt due to the destruction of their home countries. These tourists made their way to Cairo to their respective embassies, but due to the situation many of the embassies and their staff where themselves in chaos and were of little help. The Tourist Wars By the end of September many hotels in Cairo had begun taking in the tourists that had been trapped across Egypt, with hotels in certain areas becoming what amounted to enclaves of nations destroyed on Doomsday. Over the next few weeks reports began filtering into Egypt of what exactly happened on Doomsday, though a lot remained unanswered. After the reports reached the trapped tourists, many begin grouping together and on several occasions, the Egyptian police had to intervene as groups of tourist began attacking each other with home made or locally bought weapons. A particularly bad attack occurred on the 22nd of October, 1983, when groups of Americans, British, French and Canadians attacked the embassies of the USSR and the German Democratic Republic, burning the buildings to the ground and killing many members of staff as they tried to flee. On the 2nd November 1983 President Mubarak declared Cairo under martial law, and he called the army into Cairo in order to maintain law and order in the city. After the October attacks it was decided that it would be best to re-home the tourists away from the capital city. Alexandria and the port town of Port Said were decided to be the best ideas for the re-homing the tourists as they were both port cities and the hopes at the time were that the tourists' home nations would eventually send rescue craft to return them home. The English-speaking tourists as well as all others from NATO countries were re-homed to Alexandria, and all Soviet and Warsaw Pact tourists were re=homed in the smaller town of Port Said, mainly as there were fewer people from those countries in Egypt. Coup D'etat The Muslim Brotherhood, taking advantage of the chaos in Cairo, staged a coup in late November of 1983, and backed by the military they quickly took control of the country. Former President Hosni Mubarak was captured in early December of 1983 trying to escape across the border into Israel, and was executed in the first weeks of January 1984. The Brotherhood then imposed a harsh regime based on Islamist precepts. Over the next few years, political freedoms became non-existent, women's rights were suppressed if not removed entirely, and the native Coptic Church withered under religious persecution and deadly attacks. The Islamist yoke was finally broken in February of 1987, when the Brotherhood attempted to invade Israel across the Sinai Peninsula. The Israelis, who were still dealing with the effects of Doomsday and were in no shape to fight, responded by nuking Cairo with a ground burst 250 kiloton device. The ground zero of the attack was in Cairo to the east of the Nile. However, the attack - which proved to be the last nuclear attack launched to present day - destroyed the Muslim Brotherhood in their established stronghold of the Grand Mosque, in the heart of Cairo. It killed an approximate 11.5 million people instantly or within two weeks of the detonation due to radiation sickness, starvation, and the fires. The resulting power vacuum saw many local warlords rising, and just as quickly, falling, as starving people overthrew them. It was nearly a year before the situation had stabilized at all. Due to the nuclear explosion in Cairo being a groundburst detonation, massive quantities of radiation flowed down the Nile into its fertile delta through the massive amounts of silt in the river. This radiation and the radioactive silt severely contaminated the farmland and the groundwater and caused large numbers of radioactivity related fatalities, usually involving starvation, among the population of the Nile Delta within 3 months of the attack. Survivors of the attacks congregated in the south, near the Aswan High Dam. The remaining members of the military leadership took control of the situation, organizing the citizens into corps of farmers, fishermen, and laborers. With the decimation of Cairo in the nuclear bombing by Israel it was decided in 1995 that a new capital should be built near where the Eonile had begun to flow into the New Quatta lake. New Government Since late 1987 survivors had begun arriving around Lake Nasser, with electricity being supplied by the hydroelectricity plant at the Aswan High Dam. Several large townships soon grew up. In order for these townships to function a council of elders was set up in 1990. These 12 men were consulted before any major decisions were made. This was the start of the re-governing of what remained of Egypt. In early 1994, survivors gathering at Lake Nasser near the ancient temple of Abu Simbel decided that the council of elders had become too small for the rapidly increasing population. After asking the elders and asking for a vote of all men in the townships over 16 years of age, it was voted to return to the pre-Muslim Brotherhood style of governance. On 12th August 1994 a general election was held to find the governing party. Three main parties had re-formed, and ran in the election: *The Progressive National Unionist Party (left wing), *New Wafd Party (liberal), *National Democratic Party (right wing). The New Wafd Party won the election with 48% of the vote, The Progressive National Unionist Party gained 36% of the vote and the National Democratic Party had 16% of the vote. The leader of New Wafd Party, Kamal Ganzouri, became the fifth President of Egypt. His first term began on the 21st of November, 1994, is currently serving his third term in office, which will end on March 22nd, 2012, to be succeeded by Muhammad Ali Sa'id, also of the New Wafd Party. Once in office, President Ganzouri took command of what was left of the Egyptian military. His first order was to take control of all land along the Nile from the Aswan Dam to the ruins of Cairo as well as any land being run by warlords. He also ordered the abandonment and evacuation of all settlements in contact with the new government downstream of the ruins of Cairo. All surviving people were housed around Lake Nasser and the new Eonile River. The same order was extended to those in the Sinai, but by this time the Israelis were in control there, so it had little effect in that area. Greek Mandate of Kemet With the Nile delta effectively abandoned by the newly-formed Egyptian government, a group of Greek colonists annexed the Nile delta and some surrounding land in 2003 and formed the Greek Confederation Protectorate of Kemet. Although the government of Egypt did not agree with the annexation of the Delta, they did not seek to take it back through force, mainly as they believed it was a radioactive wasteland, and it was still formally abandoned along with the Sinai, but also as the Greek Confederation gave the Egyptian people much needed medical and humanitarian aid in return for the delta. In 2008, the Greek Confederation was granted a mandate over the Suez Canal Zone from the League of Nations. This area was merged with the Greek Protectorate of Kemet, and at the same time, Egypt announced that it was relinquishing any claims to the Sinai Peninsula, mainly because they were focusing on the new Eonile. Expansion of the Nation Southwards Expansion In 2009 the Egyptian military began travelling southwards along the Nile into the former country of Sudan, finding most of the western side of the country under the control of Sultanate of Darfur and also finding the east and south of the country in the middle of a civil war. They decided to set up several military bases in north-central Sudan along the River Nile southwards to its joining with its tributary, the Atbara River. The military begin assisting any remaining locals in various farming techniques and begin building wells as part of a propaganda campaign. The former Sudanese states of Ash Shamaliyah (Northern) and Nahr an Nil (River Nile) have been merged and the area has provisionally named Greater Nubia province and it is expected to be included as a full province sometime after the 2011 Presidential elections. Western Expansion In 2006 army expeditions into the area formally ruled by Libya, finding only small chaotic settlements. After talking to the leaders of these small townships it became apparent that contact with the government in Tripoli was lost shortly after Doomsday and after several years of raiding by former libyan military forces, a relative peace in the area began in late 1998. Once news of the country of Egypt surviving to the east was discovered by these small townships they asked to become part of Egypt, as they had been in the early twentieth century. The area was been provisionally named Al Kufrah province. In the north the Greek Confederation colony of Cyrenaica has become established on the coast, controlling the entire area from the old Egyptian border to the Tunisian border. In early 2011, after talks with the Government of Cyrenaica, Egypt expanded further into the southern deserts of the former state of Libya after large resources of crude oil were found under the Saharan desert. Trade agreements with Cyrenaica have been signed underlining the Egyptian claims in the area. Egyptian Military The Egyptian military has a very large contingent of Army infantry, but its air force and armored vehicles were abandoned in the years after Doomsday due to the lack of fuel or a lack of spare parts, because the majority of the military equipment in the country came from the USA, UK, China or the USSR. Since then, most have gone to the sands. At present it is largely made up of a Regular Army, which numbers a total of 80,000 men in four divisions, and 12 reserve battalions of 2000 men each. A Navy also exists, with a presence in three locations: the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and on the Eonile. Between the three commands, it consists of 200 ships of varying sizes, mostly of small size, largely on the Red Sea. Climate By the late 1990's the climatic chaos caused by Doomsday had begun to settle down into a regular pattern and much to the surprise of everyone, the climatic changes have been advantageous to Egypt. Rainfall levels across the Sahara Desert have increased from an average of around one inch (25mm) to four to five inches (100-125mm) this has led to the desert to begin greening to form a dry savanna type environment known as Sahel. This is especially the case around the new Eonile River. The New Eonile In 1992, a group of labourers lowered the bottom of the Sadat Canal from Lake Nasser by nearly ten metres, enabling a massive expansion of the existing Toshka Lakes (Arabic: توشكة‎) In early 1994, the military, with the advice of the council of elders, decided to reduce the amount of water flowing from Lake Nasser into the lower Nile by roughly half, as the other half was used for generating electricity for the country. Instead they diverted it to the west, leading to 150 million cu ft of water per day flowing into the former barren desert beyond the Toshka Lakes where the farmer corps worked to improve and farm the now slowly greening desert. Refugees from Lower Egypt increased both the workforce of Egypt and the number of mouths to feed, and the military devoted most of their control to ensuring food for their citizens. As the water continued to flow toward the desert, it created a new river named the Eonile, which began to flow northwards, towards the Mediterranean Sea. In some places the Eonile backed up into large lakes and around them small communities begin to appear. Among them is the new capital city of New Cairo, founded in 1999 around the coastline of New Qattara Lake. New Qattara Lake is the largest lake on the New Eonile, approximately 130 metres deep at its deepest point. It took two years to fill, from 1995-97, before overflowing through the man-made channel of the Ramses Canal to the north. The Eonile first flowed into the Mediterranean Sea on the November 22nd, 1999, when it flowed through the man-made Seti Canal into the sea about five miles east of the Egyptian port of El Alamein. In 2003, Egyptian hydrologists approached the government with the idea of sending the annual Nile floods down the newly created Eonile - before this point the floods had been sent down the old Lower Nile. After two years of planning, the first Nile flood to reach the Mediterranean Sea since 1970 occurred in late July, 2005, with a peak flow of over 350 million cu ft of water per day and raised the surface level of the Eonile by an average of 4 meters. This flood deposited vast amounts of fertile Nile silt onto the new flood plain, making farming even easier. In 2009 scientists found that a new delta has begun to form at the point where the Eonile flows into the Mediterranean Sea. By 2012 Egypt hopes to be growing enough food to start exporting to surrounding countries, for the first time in about two centuries. An unforeseen side effect of introducing large areas of open water in the Western Sahara Desert was discovered by scientists in 2007, when it was found that rainfall in the area surrounding the new waterways and in particular to the eastern side of the waterways had increased by up to 10% since 2001. By 2010 the average rainfall had increased to six to seven inches (150-175mm), which has allowed basic farming even in the middle of the former desert in that region if they watch out for desertification. It is expected that the area between the old Nile and new Eonile will be able to be greened using waters from both. Work is already underway to build the irrigation systems needed for such a greening. Nile Flooding June 19th 2011 The Nile flood arrived a week earlier than expected, and the waters of the River Nile upstream of Lake Nasser began to show signs of the annual Nile flood arriving with water levels 35cm above normal. The flood is usually expected in early July, and Hydrologists thought that the early arrival may have been the first signs of a particularly large flood. Rainfall levels in the Ethiopean highlands had been thought to have been heavier than normal this year, so this may be the case. The flood was over by mid September. However, if it had been larger than expected then it may have continued into October. July 12th 2011 The annual Nile flood reached eight metres and continued to rise. It was expected that it would peak at roughly 11-13 metres, some one to three metres above average. The peak of the flood was expected in mid-late July. It occurred as predicted. Government of Egypt The government of Egypt has reverted to its pre-Doomsday state of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Currently the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is also the elected Head of State of Egypt. Under the Constitution of Egypt, the President is also the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and head of the Executive branch of the Egyptian government. The first President of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, who took office on 18 June 1953, the day on which Egypt was declared a republic. The fourth President, Hosni Mubarak, was executed by the Muslim Brotherhood shortly after the coup in late 1983. The fifth President of Egypt was Kamal Ganzouri, leader of the New Wafd Party. His first term began on November 21st, 1994, and he left office after three six-year terms on March 22nd, 2012. In 2009, in his third term, President Ganzouri announced changes in the Constitution of Egypt, the main one being a limit being set on consecutive presidential terms. The limit was set at 3 terms. The sixth, and current, president of Egypt is Muhammad Ali, Prince of Sa'id. The next presidential election is scheduled to occur on September 15th, 2017. Muhammad Ali, Prince of Sa'id, (who took the name Muhammad Ali Sa'id) the son of Fuad II and grandson of Farouk I, the former Kings of Egypt, announced in 2011 that he was going to run for the position of President and returned to Egypt from his home in the Monaco in order to run for the leadership of the New Wafd party when the current President stepped down. He was backed by high level members of the New Wafd Party. The New Wafd Party announced the two potential candidates for the leadership of the party, Muhammed Ali Sa'id - son and grandson of the former Kings of Egypt, 31 years old, and Abdul Mohammed Bayoumi, businessman, 48 years old, on April 25th, 2011. On the 4th June 2011 the New Wafd Party officially endorsed their Presidential candidate as Muhammed Ali Sa'id, and on the 6th of June, Ali Sa'id announced that he will run with Abdul Mohammed Bayoumi as his Vice Presidential candidate. The Progressive National Unionist Party and the National Democratic Party chose Dr. Abdel Razek Hassan and Mohamed Saad Katatni, respectively, as their candidates. In the election, Sa'id would win with about 46 percent of the vote, to 32 percent for Katatni and 22 percent for Hassen. He was sworn in as president of Egypt on March 22nd, 2012. Parliament The other half of the Egyptian government is the Egyptian Parliament, led by a Prime Minister. Out of a total of fifty-four seats, twenty-five are held by the New Wafd Party, twelve by the National Democratic Party, nine by the Progressive National Unionist Party, and the remaining eight are held by independents, who normally support the governing New Wafd Party. Amr Moussa, a former diplomat and ambassador to India, is the current Prime Minister. Economy Trade Agreements with Cyrenaica In early 2011, after talks with the Government of Cyrenaica, Egypt expanded into the south of the former Libya after large resources of crude oil were found under the Saharan desert. They will be drilled by Egypt and then there will be two pipelines built: *One pipeline will be built from the oil fields to the Mediterranean coast near Euesperides, the capital of Cyrenaica, from where it will be sent worldwide. The government of Cyrenaina will take a share of the profits from the sale of this oil. *The second pipeline will run directly to El Alamein where it will be used purely for Egyptian purposes. The pipelines will be built between 2011 and 2012, and are supposed to begin transporting oil in late 2012. Three oil fields will be drilled at As Sarie, Amal and Nafoora. Large amounts of oil have been found in all three fields. The first pipeline will run from the Amal oil field to Ras Lanuf, and was completed in July of 2011. The second pipeline will run from the As Sarie oil field to New Cairo and will be completed sometime in December of 2011. Diesel and petrol production is expected to start in Egypt in early 2012. 10th June 2011 The first pipeline from the Amal oil field to Ras Lanuf has been completed, and structural and safety tests will be undertaken until early July when full production will start. Growing Trade Egypt trades with neighbouring states of Cyrenaica, Kemet, Israel and Darfur. Trading has begun with the new Republic of Sudan to the south. See also *Greek Federation *Cyrenaica *Kemet *Darfur *East Sudan *South Sudan *Republic of Sudan Category:African countries (1983: Doomsday) Category:Middle Eastern countries (1983: Doomsday) Category:Egypt Category:Egypt (1983: Doomsday)